Swordmaster

Swordmaster Artwork of the Swordmaster from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game. A master in the way of the sword, this class strikes with speed and grace.

Unit type(s) Unknown Weapon(s) Sword (specialty in Three Houses) Katana (Fates) Skill(s) Adept (Genealogy of the Holy War, Thracia 776) Follow-Up (Genealogy of the Holy War) Shove (Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn) Astra (Path of Radiance, Awakening, Fates, Three Houses) Critical +10 (Radiant Dawn) Swordfaire (Awakening, Fates, Three Houses) Sword Crit +10 (Three Houses)

The Swordmaster (Japanese: ソードマスター Swordmaster) is an advanced sword-wielding class which debuted in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and appears in every game in the Fire Emblem series since except Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. It is the primary promoted version of the Myrmidon, being available to it as a class change option in every appearance, and in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Swordmasters can promote again to become Trueblades. In Fire Emblem Fates, it is a Hoshido-aligned class and is one of the class change options for the new Samurai class, the alternative being the Master of Arms.

Conceived as something of a counterpart to the Hero class, Swordmasters heavily emphasize exceptionally high skill and speed stats in exchange for having lesser strength and being less sturdy. Owing to both their high skill and typically possessing substantial bonuses to their critical rate, Swordmasters frequently inflict critical hits, compensating somewhat for their relative lack of strength. Although they are efficient attackers, their worrisome defenses, with poor HP, defense and resistance, make their offensive use a risky prospect. For the most effective use of a Swordmaster, these faults are best mitigated through use of terrain to compensate for their defenses and to boost their avoid.

Stats

Base stats

Main series

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weight	Experience	Weapon Level
Genealogy of the Holy War	40	12	0	15	15	0	7	3	6	--	--	--	A
Thracia 776	24/20	5/4	1	8	9/10	0	4	--	7	6/5	--	--	C
The Binding Blade	21/19	6	--	11	10/12	0	5/4	2/3	6	9/6	--	--	C
The Blazing Blade	21/19	6	--	11	10/12	0	5/4	2/3	6	9/6	--	--	C
The Sacred Stones	21/19	6	--	11	10/12	0	5/4	2/3	6	9/6	--	--	C
Path of Radiance	21/19	5/4	2	7	7/8	0	5	2/3	7	11/8	11/8	--	C
Radiant Dawn	30/34	15/14	6/4	20	21/22	0	13/8	10/8	7	11/8	11/8	--	C
Radiant Dawn (Part 4 enemies)	35	17	8	22	23	0	15	12	7	11	11	--	A
Shadow Dragon	22	5	1	11	13	0	6	3	8	--	--	--	C
New Mystery of the Emblem	22	5	1	11	13	0	6	3	8	--	--	--	C
Awakening	20	7	2	11	13	0	6	4	6	--	--	--	E
Fates	18	6	2	7	11	4	5	5	6	--	--	--	E
Three Houses	30	17	8	12	14	10	12	8	5	--	--	--	--

Warriors

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weight	Experience	Weapon Level
Warriors (Ryoma)	68	8	1	8	10	8	6	5	5	--	--	--	E
Warriors (Owain)	145	30	30	36	34	23	21	19	5	--	--	--	E

Max stats

Main series

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weapon Level
Genealogy of the Holy War	80	27	15	30	30	30	22	18	6	--	A
Thracia 776	80	20	20	20	20	20	20	--	20	20	A
The Binding Blade	60	24/22	--	29	30	30	22	23/25	15	20	S
The Blazing Blade	60	24/22	--	29	30	30	22	23/25	15	25	S
The Sacred Stones	60	24/22	--	29	30	30	22	23/25	15	20	S
Path of Radiance	60	24/22	20	29	30	40	24/22	22/25	??	??	S
Radiant Dawn	40	24/23	15	30	30	30	23/22	15/17	??	??	SS/S
Radiant Dawn (Part 4 enemies)	53	30	18	38	38	30	24	22	??	??	SS
Shadow Dragon	60	24	20	29	30	30	22	23	32	--	A
New Mystery of the Emblem	60	24	20	29	30	30	22	23	10	--	A
Awakening	80	38	34	44	46	45	33	38	6	--	A
Fates	55	30	28	32	35	33	27	31	8	--	S

Warriors

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Movement	Constitution	Weapon Level
Warriors (Ryoma)	999	142	12	141	171	142	107	92	5	--	S
Warriors (Owain)	966	130	130	152	148	99	89	81	5	--	S

Class growth rates

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Charm	Constitution*	Movement*	Weapon Level*
Genealogy of the Holy War	100%	30%	10%	30%	30%	0%	30%	10%	--	--	--	--
Thracia 776	90%	30%	3%	30%	30%	20%	20%	--	--	40%	0%	--
The Binding Blade	65%	20/25%	--	30%	30%	15%	12%	25%	--	--	--	--
The Blazing Blade	65%	25%	--	30%	30%	25%	15%	22%	--	--	--	--
The Sacred Stones	65%	25%	--	30%	30%	25%	15%	22%	--	--	--	--
Path of Radiance	65%	45%	10%	65%	65%	30%	25/20%	20/30%	--	--	--	--
Radiant Dawn	50/0/95%	35/0/70%	35/0/55%	40/0/85%	35/0/80%	50/0/75%	40/0/50%	15/0/55%	--	--	--	--
Shadow Dragon	50/80%	10/20%	-10/0%	20/30%	25/30%	0%	5/20%	-5/20%	--	--	--	--
New Mystery of the Emblem	40/80%	10/20%	-10/0%	20/30%	30%	0%	5/20%	-5/20%	--	--	--	--
Awakening	40/80%	20/40%	0%	25/50%	25/50%	0/50%	5/25%	10/30%	--	--	--	--
Fates	10%	10%	5%	15%	20%	15%	0%	10%	--	--	--	--
Three Houses	25/40%	10/20%	0%	0/10%	20/30%	0%	0/25%	-5%	5%	--	--	+3

Click here for more details on the mechanics of class growths in each game.

Class modifiers

Game	HP	Strength	Magic	Skill	Speed	Luck	Defense	Resistance	Charm	Movement
Three Houses	1	2	0	1	4	0	1	0	0	1

Class skills

Game	Skill	Learning conditions
Genealogy of the Holy War	Follow-Up	Innate.
Genealogy of the Holy War Thracia 776	Adept	Innate.
The Binding Blade	+30 critical rate	Innate.
The Blazing Blade The Sacred Stones Path of Radiance	+15 critical rate	Innate.
Path of Radiance Radiant Dawn	Shove	Innate; hidden in Path of Radiance.
Path of Radiance Awakening Fates Three Houses	Astra	• Path of Radiance: Occult skill. • Awakening: Learned at Level 5. • Fates: Learned from Level 5 and up. • Three Houses: Class mastery. (150 class Exp required)
Radiant Dawn	Critical +10	Innate.
Radiant Dawn	Critical +20	Innate. (Part 4 enemies only)
Awakening Fates Three Houses	Swordfaire	• Awakening: Learned at Level 15. • Fates: Learned from Level 15 and up. • Three Houses: Innate.
Fates	+10 critical rate, +10 avoid	Innate.
Three Houses	Sword Crit +10	Innate.

Class change

Genealogy of the Holy War

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Choosing the option "Class change" in the home castle after reaching Level 20	Swordmaster or Forrest
Promotion choice criteria: Preset depending on the individual character; Holyn, Ulster, Roddlevan and Radney all promote to Forrest, while Ayra and Larcei promote to Swordmaster.

Thracia 776

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Knight Proof after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster or Mercenary
Promotion choice criteria: Preset depending on the individual character; Machyua promotes to Mercenary, while Mareeta, Shiva and Trewd promote to Swordmaster.

The Binding Blade

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Hero Crest after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster

The Blazing Blade

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Hero Crest or Earth Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster

The Sacred Stones

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Hero Crest or Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster or Assassin
Promotion choice criteria: The player can freely choose.

Path of Radiance

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Swordmaster

Radiant Dawn

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Swordmaster	Using a Master Crown after reaching Level 10, or reaching Level 21.	Trueblade

Shadow Dragon

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster

New Mystery of the Emblem

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster

Awakening

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster or Assassin
Promotion choice criteria: The player can freely choose.

Fates

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Samurai	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 10.	Swordmaster or Master of Arms
Promotion choice criteria: The player may freely choose.

Three Houses

Base class	Certification requirements	Advanced class
Any class	Level 20 Advanced Seal A	Swordmaster
This class is available for any unit.

Warriors

Owain

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Myrmidon	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 15.	Swordmaster

Ryoma

Base class	Promotion method	Advanced class
Swordmaster	Using a Master Seal after reaching Level 15.	High Prince

Playable Swordmasters

Playable Characters
Name	Game
Shannan	Genealogy of the Holy War Second Generation
Eyvel	Thracia 776, Awakening
Shanam	Thracia 776
Karel	The Binding Blade, The Blazing Blade, Awakening
Karla	The Blazing Blade (Hector's tale only)
Ismaire	The Sacred Stones (Creature Campaign only)
Stefan	Path of Radiance
Lucia	Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn, Awakening
Zihark	Radiant Dawn
Mia	Radiant Dawn
Say'ri	Awakening
Yen'fay	Awakening
Navarre	Awakening
Deen	Awakening
Athena	Awakening
Ayra	Awakening
Seliph	Awakening
Larcei	Awakening
Mareeta	Awakening
Lyn	Awakening
Marisa	Awakening
Lloyd	Awakening
Ryoma	Fates: Birthright, Revelation, Warriors
Catherine	Three Houses
Playable Swordmaster units in the Fire Emblem series.

Notable enemy Swordmasters

Enemy Units
Name	Game
Lamia	Genealogy of the Holy War First Generation
Boyce	Genealogy of the Holy War Second Generation
Simia	Genealogy of the Holy War Second Generation, Awakening
Kel	The Binding Blade
Lloyd	The Blazing Blade
Carlyle	The Sacred Stones
Homasa	Path of Radiance
Tashoria	Radiant Dawn
Yen'fay	Awakening
Ryoma	Fates: Conquest, Warriors
Hana	Fates: Conquest
Hinata	Fates: Conquest
Sumeragi	Fates: Revelation
Felix	Three Houses
Catherine	Three Houses
Enemy Swordmaster units in the Fire Emblem series.

Notable neutral Swordmasters

Playable Characters
Name	Game
Ryoma	Fates: Conquest, Warriors
Catherine	Three Houses
Neutral Swordmaster units in the Fire Emblem series.

Flavor text

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Game Text (English) Text (Japanese) The Blazing Blade (class roll) A title given to those dedicated to the sword. Incredible speed and killing strokes. ?? The Blazing Blade (help) An honorific bestowed upon true masters of swordplay. ?? The Sacred Stones (class roll) A title given to those dedicated to the sword. Incredible speed and killing strokes. ?? The Sacred Stones (help) Lightning-fast swordsmen of peerless lethal skill. Equip: Swords. ?? Path of Radiance Lighting-fast swordsmen who have mastered the art of the sword. Their skills are peerless and lethal. ?? Radiant Dawn (class roll) Lightning-fast swordsmen who have mastered the art of the sword. They are peerless and deadly. ?? Radiant Dawn (help) Lightning-fast swordsmen whose masterful skills are as sharp and lethal as the blades they wield. ?? Shadow Dragon Seasoned myrmidons who strike with critical hits as sure and quick as lightning. ?? Awakening A seasoned myrmidon with high Skill/Spd. Wields swords. ?? Fates Hoshidan. A master of the way of the katana. Has exceptional Spd and Avo. ?? Three Houses A master in the way of the sword, this class strikes with speed and grace. ??

Trivia

• In Fates, Swordmasters are capable of dual-wielding certain katanas, specifically: Venge Katana, Axe Splitter, Spirit Katana, Hagakure Blade, Daikon Radish, Sunrise Katana, and Hinata's Katana.

Etymology and other languages

Names, etymology and in other regions
Language	Name	Definition, etymology and notes
English	Swordmaster	--
Japanese	• ソードマスター • 剣豪ソードマスター • 剣聖	• Officially romanized as Swordmaster. This katakana rendering is used in all games. • Officially romanized as Swordmaster. In Radiant Dawn, all Japanese class names are spelled primarily in kanji (i.e. 剣豪), with a foreign-language name in katakana applied as furigana (i.e. ソードマスター) and used as the basis for the romanized name in the class roll. In feudal Japanese culture, kengō (剣豪) was a title given to a masterful swordsman. • Officially romanized as Kensei; literally translates as "sword saint". This kanji name is used only in Fates. In feudal Japanese culture, kensei (剣聖) was a title given to a swordfighter (剣士) of legendary skill. In Radiant Dawn, this was the name of the Trueblade class, the promoted form of the Swordmaster.
Spanish	Espadachín	Swordsman
French	Bretteur	Fencer
German	Schwertmeister	Swordmaster
Italian	Mastro di spada	Master of swords

Gallery

• 

  Artwork of the Swordmaster from the Fire Emblem Trading Card Game.

• 

  The generic Swordmaster portrait in Genealogy of the Holy War.

• 

  The generic Swordmaster portrait in Thracia 776.

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  The generic Swordmaster portrait in the Game Boy Advance games.

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  The generic Swordmaster portrait in Shadow Dragon.

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  The generic Swordmaster portrait in New Mystery of the Emblem.

• 

  The generic Swordmaster portrait in Awakening.

• 

  The generic Risen Swordmaster portrait in Awakening.

• 

  The generic female Swordmaster portrait in Awakening.

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  The generic Risen female Swordmaster portrait in Awakening.

• 

  Concept artwork of a female Swordmaster from Awakening.

• 

  The generic Swordmaster portrait in Fates.

• 

  An enemy Swordmaster in Path of Radiance.

• 

  An enemy Swordmaster in Radiant Dawn.

See also

• Hero

This article is part of Project Classes, a project focused in writing articles for every class present in the Fire Emblem series.